Spade & Bushel

The Connacht Distillery in the wilds of county Mayo.

The Connacht Distillery sits on the banks of the beautiful River Moy, in the ruggedly wild and beautiful county Mayo. It sits just outside the charming town of Ballina, on the site of the old Duffy family bakery. From bread to whiskey this site has always had a true Irish aroma about it. Here a dream held by the Stapletons, three American and one Irish came into fruition. The Stapeltons wished to bring distilling back to one of the most natural and unspoiled regions of Ireland.

The Stills

Robert Cassell, their master distiller and co-founder, custom designed their stills in order to create the essence from the west; which once tried, the memories from this liquid last. Connacht is very active distillery from once the grain is delivered they are busy preparing their mash to then fermenting, distilling, maturing and finally bottling their liquid gold. It has been more than a hundred years since the west distilled pot still and single malt whiskey’s. The Connacht distillery has the unique coastal location to mature their wild whiskey’s giving a beautiful tone to their whiskey.

Visitors Centre

As like many, they have a visitors centre where you can start your interactive tour. After which you can taste though their selection of spirits in their custom built bar. A bar which was hand-crafted from re-purposed timber flooring from Dublin’s Boland Mills. These historic floors, upon which our Irish patriots stood and battled British soldiers during the 1916 Easter Rising; thus bringing a little extra Irish history to their distillery; Ireland’s Taoiseach and local Mayo man Enda Kenny offically opened the distillery in October 2015. “I am delighted that the craft of whiskey-making is returning to the West of Ireland” Enda kenny.